“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. [Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)]
According to Bible Gateway, the six verses of the 23rd Psalm are the most popular ones on their site, with verses 4 and 6 usually vying for first place. The seventh most popular verse, however, is today’s verse, Jeremiah 29:11. When people are going through hard times, this is the kind of verse that gets pulled out to reassure them that everything will turn out right.
If Jeremiah had copywritten his words, he’d probably be a millionaire today because his words are found nearly everywhere. A quick search finds them printed on memes, blankets, pillows, plaques, wall art, bookmarks, bracelets, charms, key chains, decals, rocks, and iPhone wallpaper! By itself, the verse is comforting and reassuring, especially when we’re in the midst of trials and difficulties.
Nevertheless, Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most misused and misunderstood verses in Scripture. The word often translated as prosperity, prosper, or success was shalom, the Hebrew word for completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace—not material wealth. God’s promise wasn’t that of success and prosperity; it was of peace and wellbeing and they’re not the same thing!
Jeremiah 29:11 is one sentence in a letter Jeremiah sent to a specific group of people: the exiles in Babylon—a people in exile because God sent them there! This verse promised the nation a future and the hope that Jerusalem would be restored. In the previous verse [29:10] we see that God’s promise even came with a timeline: “When seventy years are completed…I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” Although God’s specific promise to those exiles was fulfilled nearly 2,700 years ago with their return to Jerusalem, it also may refer to the future regathering of Israel in the end times.
God made another promise in Jeremiah 29, but it’s not on anyone’s list of favorites nor are we likely to find it written on wall plaques or jewelry. For those who did not go into exile, God promised “I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth….” [29:17-18] Fortunately, that promise does not apply to us any more than does Jeremiah 29:11!
While it’s a beautiful verse, Jeremiah 29:11 should not be construed to mean that God has promised us a future of well-being without misfortune. Although He offers us His shalom, He gives us no guarantees of prosperity, security, success, opportunities, health, or that our worldly expectations will be met. Jesus didn’t come to save us from bankruptcy, loss, infertility, illness, bad marriages, poor choices, difficult in-laws, unemployment, demanding bosses, or a host of other life challenges; He came to save us from our sins! Moreover, He calls us to sacrifice and deny rather than want and get.
True Biblical prosperity comes when we are in a relationship with God, when we are walking with Him and getting to know Him better. While we mortals hope and long for what we consider “good” things, God has a hope and a future for us filled with great things. Our finite minds cannot fathom the wondrous things God has in store for us in heaven. If we’re going to “hang our hat” on any of Jeremiah’s words, Lamentations 3 might be a better one.
Although it’s been many years, whenever I read today’s verse about God going both before and after me, I’m reminded of a hiking trip my daughter and I took through the Canadian Rockies. One of our guides led and tied orange ribbons along the trail to mark the way. A second guide (the sweep) followed the last hiker and removed the trail markers. With guides both before us and following us, the group could spread out, find their own pace, and take breaks when needed, while ensuring no one got lost or left behind.
Wearing a stuffed backpack and carrying his Teddy bear, little Tommy walked past his neighbor’s house. A short while later, he walked by her house in the same direction. He disappeared around the corner only to reappear several minutes later. As he was passing her house for the fourth time, the neighbor asked him what he was doing. When Tommy explained he was running away, she asked why he was only circling the block. “Because I’m not allowed to cross the street!”
My husband managed to track tar into the house on the bottom of his shoes. Unfortunately, he tracked it right onto the new bedroom carpet! I immediately got out a whole battery of chemicals and tried to clean it up. Needless to say, my efforts didn’t improve the situation; in fact, they only made it worse. In desperation, we did what we should have done in the first place: we got the name of a good carpet cleaner and called him. He spent as much time cleaning up the residue from my failed efforts as he did cleaning up the tar.
“The Lord is my portion,” wrote the prophet Jeremiah. Throughout the Bible, a wide variety of metaphors are used to describe God— rock, refuge, shield, shepherd, fortress, potter, and light—but portion is one of my favorites. Portion refers to one’s share—be it of plunder, an inheritance, or food. Not being a soldier, I can’t relate to the spoils of war and I’ve seen way too many inheritances argued over or squandered to associate those meanings with God. Food, however, is something to which we all can relate.
For three days, Israel traveled across the desert without finding any water. When they arrived at Marah, the exhausted and thirsty group was disappointed to find the water undrinkable because of its bitterness. When Moses cried out to the Lord, God told him to throw a piece of wood into the water to make it sweet. It was then that God proclaimed His name to be Jehovah Rapha, the “Lord who Heals You.” Jehovah Rapha took the bitter out of the Israelites’ water and made it palatable.
